Saturday, October 22, 2011

Can't live without Tacky glue for my clay projects!

One of my favorite things to use when creating my clay sculptures is Tacky glue. I use it on baked and unbaked polymer clay and it stays somewhat flexible even after it dries. For pieces like my miniature house sculptures I bake the walls, then arrange them on a base of unbaked clay, securing the edges with Tacky glue. Next I cover the walls with a thin layer of the glue and let it dry. When I add the next layer of clay (which will be the outer layer of the house) around the walls the dried glue, which is still slightly tacky helps the unbaked clay stick much better. I also find it very useful when it comes to attaching all the vines and tiny flowers to the house, as well as the shingles. I use a fine tip attachment to draw a line of glue where I want my vines to go, then press the clay vines into the wet glue. After this dries the vine is securely attached to the house and I can add leaves and flowers, adding a bit of glue where I need to in order to secure the foliage. If i don't use the glue the vines rarely stick to the baked clay. I wouldn't be able to create these detailed little houses without Tacky glue. And you can bake the glue at 275 degrees without affecting it. I also use Tacky glue to coat my foil and wire armatures so the clay sticks to them better. I just have to be sure there are no air bubbles between the foil and the clay, otherwise I could end up with cracks or large bubbles of clay after it's baked. And when I cover glass or metal containers I "prime" them with a layer of glue as well. I get much better results this way.

With this dragon trinket box I coated the coffee container with glue, let it dry, glued it to the cardboard base, which was coated with glue, then added the clay to the box and the base. The foil dragon armatures were also coated with glue before I added clay and turned them into full fledged dragons ;-)

Nearly every project I create has at least a little Tacky glue involved at some point! ;-)

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About Me

I have a studio on ArtFire at http://creativecritters.artfire.com where I sell my polymer clay sculptures, miniature houses, pen sets, jewelry, cloth dolls, knit toys, and World of Warcraft plush Taurens. I love creating, and when I'm not doing that there's a good chance I'm outdoors. I enjoying tending my flower and vegetables gardens, taking long walks, watching the animals, and just breathing the fresh air. I'm married and have 2 sweet kitties. When I'm reading, it's usually fantasy, which fills my head with ideas for my artwork. I also exercise on a regular basis (and come up with more creative ideas while I'm doing that). I'm a very active person and always like to be doing something.